


Shortening the Distance

by ourdreamsrealized



Category: Hunger Games Series - All Media Types, Hunger Games Trilogy - Suzanne Collins, The Hunger Games (Movies)
Genre: Angst, Curvy Reader, Drama, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotionally Sensitive Material, F/M, Fluff, Plus-Size Reader, Romance, Size Difference
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-05
Updated: 2019-04-05
Packaged: 2020-01-05 09:42:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18363473
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ourdreamsrealized/pseuds/ourdreamsrealized
Summary: How the Cato fell for the plus-sized tribute from District 10.





	Shortening the Distance

**Author's Note:**

> Posting stuff from my Tumblr. Enjoy!

Cato remembered the first day he had laid eyes on Y/N. 

She had come out with her fellow tribute, her hair dancing like fire in the wind.   
She was from one of the poorer districts, and a lot of the other Careers had wondered how. 

“She’s so heavy for someone who comes from a poverty-stricken district,” Glimmer had sneered when she passed them on her chariot.

Cato didn’t say anything or even acknowledge the fact that his companion had said something. 

What did it matter? In a few days time, he would have to kill her along with the rest of the tributes.

That in mind, he turned away from the curvy girl from District 10, keeping his eyes on the crowd and the prize.

* * *

The second time he had seen her had been an accident.

She was sitting in the hall, a book in her lap and a pen grasped in her small, pudgy fingers.

He watched her for a bit as she wrote fast and with a purpose that Cato had only acquired when in training, when he reminded himself why he was here.

She didn’t notice his gaze, and Cato stood there for longer than he intended to.

His eyes traced her every feature, the intricate lines of her face, the concentration that weighed heavily on her brow. 

He wondered what she was writing. What was so important to her that it could consume her so? Such attention would benefit her in the arena, but it could also become a hindrance if she was easily captivated by simple things, things that did not matter.

And to him, a book did not matter.

Nor did a girl from District 10.

* * *

“Who do you think will be the first?”

“Is that even a  _question_? Have you  _seen_  the walrus from District 10?”

Laughter sounded all around him, but Cato did not join in the other Careers’ amusements. He had more important things to do like winning the 74th Hunger Games.

His goal was feasible, especially after observing the other tributes in training. As he thought, none posed a threat to him except for the other Careers, and that was not saying much.

He had to agree with Glimmer, however.

The first to die was definitely going to be the girl from District 10; she couldn’t run ten feet before doubling over to catch her breath.

Some would say his thoughts were cruel, but to Cato, it was just facts.

The girl’s weight posed a problem.

He glanced over at her to find her talking with that boy from District 12; he was showing her the paints he had made and how to use them to her advantage.  
Cato frowned at the scene.

Were they stupid? Didn’t they understand that they were enemies? 

Such ignorance of the situation would only hold them back. Attachment was for the weak, and Cato was strong. Very strong.

* * *

When the training scores came up on the screen, Cato wasn’t paying much attention. 

He sat at a table, dining with Glimmer and their mentors, and once he had seen his ten, he didn’t bother to watch anymore. Sure, the District 12 girl had gotten an eleven, a point higher than his, but he did not let that intimidate him.

The judges haven’t seen any of them on the field, and an accurate assumption of their ability to survive the Games could not be made until that had happened.

What had shocked him, though, was the District 10 girl–Y/N?–had scored a nine.

 _Nine_.

“I knew she was hiding something! Can you believe this Cato?”

The teen shot a glare at the girl who couldn’t seem to stop trying to kiss up to him; if he had his way, she’d be the first to go, but, alas, she was an ally. A valuable one, at that.

Still, she had no idea, no  _inkling_ , that the Y/N was hiding something. She voiced her thoughts on the girl multiple times, and not once did she mention her being any sort of threat to them.

But maybe there was more to Y/N than first meets the eye…

* * *

If she was this dangerous, Y/N had to be an ally.

After a night lost to thought, that was what Cato had concluded. 

The decision was a hard one to make, considering how much of a burden she would also be, but he had to take that District 12 girl down first. She was the strongest, and with a good group of allies, it could be done within the first twenty-four hours in the game.

Y/N would bring something to the table; she has to if she managed to get herself a nine.

So he started working his way into her heart because he knew the greatest way to get a girl to be loyal was to make her fall in love. It was a cruel-hearted way of doing it, and a small part of Cato knew that.

But the larger part of him was focused on something that defied all logic: self-preservation.

* * *

He remembered the first time he spoke to Y/N. She was shocked when she heard his voice, and he could tell by the look on her face that she wondered if his words were truly directed at her.

“You’re quite talented.”

It was a compliment, something she obviously wasn’t accustomed to.

“T-Thank you,” she gave him a genuine smile.

That was something he wasn’t accustomed to, and, for a moment, Cato’s thoughts dissipated. All his dreams of victory and his methods of achieving them suddenly didn’t exist. It was a moment of clarity, and, when he looked back on it later during another sleepless night, he felt, for the first time, truly and utterly terrified.

“Cato? Are you okay?”

Her voice brought him back to the present, to their first conversation.

“I’m fine,” he slipped back into fake grins and words that were so sweet that they left a bad taste in his mouth. “I was just curious as to where you had learned to fight so well.”

And it was that easy to get her to talk.

She told him her life story, but Cato didn’t find himself wishing she would just get to the point or give him the information he sought. He listened, and he craved to hear more.

* * *

Some time during their few days before the Hunger Games, he had began to enjoy her presence.

It was startling to him, but he took comfort in promises he made to himself. 

He would be different in the game. He would return to being the cold-blooded killer he was trained to be. So he could enjoy this bit of carelessness. 

“Sometimes I wish my name hadn’t been picked.”

She had said that to him the night before they were released into their own personal Hell, and, because Cato was allowing himself to indulge, he pursued the musing.

“What would you be doing if you weren’t picked?” he asked, watching the twinkling lights of the Capital below.

“I was going to graduate from high school and go on to college.”

“College?”

He turned to face her, raising a brow. 

She nodded, feeling a bit uncomfortable under his gaze, “I applied to a few colleges. My family can afford it because my grandfather was a Victor, and he saved most of his winnings for us.”

Cato went silent at that information. If his plans went accordingly, her grandfather’s wish would not become reality.

“What did you want to be?”

“A doctor.”

Cato’s eyes widened at that, "Why?”

“Well, working with animals, a lot of people get sick or injured in District 10, and we don’t really have doctors there because most of us are doing something with livestock. It’s all we really know.”

Her eyes met his at that moment, and heaven help him; he had never seen such eyes. The lights of the Capital shined like starlight in them, and time stopped.

Without thinking, he reached for her, his hand finding the plumpness of her cheek with a gentleness only she believed he possessed. 

“C-Cato?”

It was not fear that laced her voice but rather denial. 

This couldn’t be happening between them, especially not in their situation. One of them was going to die in the days to come, and Cato was more than certain it wasn’t going to be him.

It was that conviction that made him stop the gravitational pull between their forms and drop his fingers from her skin. 

He stepped back, putting distance between them that he hadn’t even realized he closed. 

She looked sad, but she did not say a word as she turned back to the scenery that they had been originally admiring.

And all the while, Cato’s heart ached in ways he didn’t even want to begin to explore.

* * *

When that first canon went off, Cato found himself running towards it.

His blood pounded in his ears, propelling him forward. He didn’t think it was her. It couldn’t be. He wouldn’t let it be.

“Cato!”

The sound of his name stopped him because he recognized the owner and took comfort in it.

The bushes rustled and parted to reveal Y/N, and his heart fell from his throat to his stomach, simulating butterflies with each beat.

He didn’t say anything.

He just shortened the distance between them until there wasn’t any.


End file.
